The Philadelphia Flyers’ search for a new head coach has reportedly come to an end and they are going with a familiar face. Maybe someone that has played for this team for several years was the obvious candidate all along.
After what seemed like months of rumors and vague reports coming from just about everywhere in the hockey world, the Flyers did the thing after firing John Tortorella six weeks ago. Rick Tocchet is set to become the new Flyers head coach, according to multiple reports.
Not sure of timing, but it is coming https://t.co/6l2em8LrSs
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) May 14, 2025
First, it was ESPN’s John Buccigross tweeting out another vague post about a team and a coach — he did the same for Joel Quenneville being hired by the Anaheim Ducks, and when the Flyers originally hired Tortorella years ago. Then, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman more or less confirmed the connection after several podcast and radio appearances, and then finally hitting send on his own post that certainly cements it as something that is happening.
While throughout the last several days, the noise around the Flyers and Tocchet has been steadily rising. There was a quick silencing when Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said that he has heard conflicting reports about how strong the likelihood of the Flyers hiring Tocchet was — but now it looks like that was maybe just a quiet before the employment storm.
Tocchet was reportedly at the top of the list for many teams. The Seattle Kraken, Boston Bruins, and Pittsburgh Penguins were at least very interested in hiring the 61-year-old to be their new head coach, along with the Flyers. While his three-year tenure with the Vancouver Canucks was not the most successful — one single playoff appearance and one series win –he was still highly sought after as one of the more established names for the handful of openings across the league.
Now, the Flyers got him and they are moving forward with someone who is considered more of a win-now coach than someone who would be typically joining a team in the middle of a rebuild. The new coach, of course, played 621 games for the Flyers in two separate tenures, scoring 232 goals, 508 points, and racking up 1,815 penalty minutes.
Tocchet was first a head coach in the NHL for two seasons as the Tampa Bay Lightning bench boss, taking over in the middle of the 2008-09 season and then being let go at the end of the 2009-10 season for the team to turn to Guy Boucher as their next coach. In Tampa, Tocchet coached a team with young burgeoning then-teenaged stars like Victor Hedman and Steven Stamkos, and didn’t make the playoffs in both seasons. A total record of 53-69-26 as he took a team from being absolutely terrible to being just below .500 in his second season.
After four years of not being in hockey, Tocchet took the assistant coaching job with the Pittsburgh Penguins. His first full season was under Mike Johnston, second season featured the midseason firing of Johnston and hiring of Mike Sullivan, and then he wrapped up his final season in Pittsburgh continuing to be under Sullivan through the 2016-17 season before eventually being hired to be the Arizona Coyotes head coach. In his return to running a team, it was unfortunately for a very bad team. Clayton Keller was in his sophomore season, Derek Stepan was the team’s top center, and Alex Goligoski played a vital role.
Tocchet led the Coyotes for four seasons, and in all four he finished around the .500 mark with just one brief appearance in the playoffs (because of a global pandemic, his bad Coyotes was able to get into the postseason).
After a mediocre time in Arizona, Tocchet was hired by the Canucks in the middle of the 2022-23 season and hit the ground running. He finished that season with a .611 points percentage through the final 36 games. The next season, he had a 50-23-9 record and a .665 points percentage and got to make the playoffs and even win a round, and take the eventual Stanley Cup Finalist Edmonton Oilers to Game 7 in the second round. Tocchet earned the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL’s top coach for that effort.
And then it all came crashing down this past season. A 38-30-14 record, a reported mess between two star players on his team, underperforming key players, goaltending insecurity, and then of course potentially losing Quinn Hughes because his boss decided to have some loose lips. A disaster that Tocchet ended up walking away from and rejecting a new contract to remain that team’s head coach.
And that brings us to here and now. The Flyers have hired Tocchet to his fourth head coaching role and now the team might be really trying to turn a corner in rapid fashion.
UPDATE
The Flyers have made it official.
🔶 WELCOME HOME, TOCC! 🔶
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) May 14, 2025
We’re proud to announce that Rick Tocchet has been named the 25th head coach in franchise history. https://t.co/pY0ljNFtoq
